Hue And Cry

Your Book Review (of Nov. 26) is a wonderful Christmas gift to all who read the Los Angeles Times and love books. This is the best use of color illustrations in newspapers yet. Everyone I have talked to says, "Bravo!" KAREN S. LANGLOIS PASADENA

Re "House rejects historic rescue as markets take a record dive," Sept. 30 Although I recognize that the failure of the House to pass the $700-billion bailout bill may herald significant additional hardship for the economy, I accept the vote as the only realistic outcome for a society that wishes to perpetuate a belief in personal responsibility and free enterprise. As the economy contracts, we Americans are likely to find that we have been living too high on the hog. We demand constant upgrades to our standards of living, and we acquire most of what we want on credit.

At the same time that there is a hue and cry that the rise in minimum wage to $4.75 per hour will cost jobs, the sign at a McDonald's in Hilliard, Ohio, reads "Now hiring, all shifts, $7.00 per hour." Supply and demand does the best job of regulating wages. In California there is too much supply. SHIRLEY E. ROTH Fountain Valley

Re "Old guard back on Iraq policy," Jan. 4 It is horrifying to me that the White House is receiving advice on Iraq from a magazine editor, William Kristol, and a right-wing think tank flunky, Frederick Kagan. Can you imagine the hue and cry from the conservative media if our next president were getting foreign policy advice from Noam Chomsky, the American political author admired by Hugo Chavez? Come to think of it, that might be an improvement. RODERICK GATES El Cajon, Calif.

In 1910 there was a public outcry when a new health law went into effect. "It's an invasion of our rights." "We've always done it. What do you mean it's unhealthy?" "Business will close because of this law." Despite the hue and cry, spittoons were banned from public places. People continued to eat in restaurants, drink in bars and play bingo. Businesses survived and so did the spitters. Ventura City Council, take heed. H.M. NACHENBERG Ventura

It is amusing to note that with all the hue and cry about the 59-year-old woman giving birth to twins (Dec. 28), resulting in calls to limit the use of "enhanced fertility technology" to women of appropriate childbearing age, no one has thought to, in parallel, require vasectomies on all men over the same appropriate childbearing age. SHELLA A. FUHRMAN San Diego

The Latinos are raising a hue and cry to emphasize the need for the new person to be Latino because more than 60% of the students are Latino. The blacks also have a right; 22% are black. I believe I know the right man for the job. He is 65% Latino, 22% black and 13% white. He is a very compassionate person and needs a job. Since other qualifications seem incidental, he's the best person for the job. JAMES E. VAN STONE, Monrovia

All the hue and cry to oust Gates from community "leaders" and even The Times is nauseating. We citizens need to shoulder the responsibility to create a societal climate calling for police officers to be kinder and gentler. Just in case you haven't noticed, Los Angeles is not exactly the epitome of tranquility. What type of officer would you want to respond to your call, a Mr. Rogers? Until then we all can expect occasional outbursts of violence by the Los Angeles Police Department, no matter who is the chief.

Lighten up, Thousand Oaks! The Promenade is a great place to visit and fits within the community's needs. The buildings, artwork and landscape are out of this world. One would think the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission would have better things to do with its time than pick on something new and innovative ("Hue and Cry on Club Disney Paint Pattern," March 21). Besides, the City of Thousand Oaks versus Disney? Take one guess who will win. JAN R. GILMORE, Moorpark

With all the interest in having Ronald Reagan on our money, why not kill two birds with a single stone. The mint has tried three times to introduce a practical dollar coin, only to have it fail to gain public usage. How about we replace Sacajawea with Reagan's friendly grin. It would help to stop printing paper ones. This has always evoked a hue and cry, but the idea of a pocketful of smiling "Ronnies" might just turn the trick. Ken Pinkham San Juan Capistrano Let's get over the rash hysteria of suggesting changes of names on buildings, places and money to "Ronald Reagan."

The low road was taken to defeat Proposition 66 when bald-faced lies were used at the last minute, giving supporters no time to refute them. What lies? (1) That any murderers would be released. The sentence for murder is a minimum of 15 years to life and has nothing to do with three strikes. If there were a three-strikes conviction, it was after the first life sentence for murder. (2) That 26,000 would be freed, including two-strikers who were not part of the proposition. In fact, only 4,000 were eligible for review and possible resentencing.

With all the interest in having Ronald Reagan on our money, why not kill two birds with a single stone. The mint has tried three times to introduce a practical dollar coin, only to have it fail to gain public usage. How about we replace Sacajawea with Reagan's friendly grin. It would help to stop printing paper ones. This has always evoked a hue and cry, but the idea of a pocketful of smiling "Ronnies" might just turn the trick. Ken Pinkham San Juan Capistrano Let's get over the rash hysteria of suggesting changes of names on buildings, places and money to "Ronald Reagan."

British playwright David Hare calls "The Blue Room" "sort of an encyclopedia of defensive and offensive strategies that people use in the pursuit of love. What we feel about someone before we make love to them and what we feel after. What survives and what gets wrecked between desire and fulfillment." What survives in this case is a play best known for actress Nicole Kidman's brief onstage nudity during its initial productions in London and New York in 1998.

The "Missing" fliers went up first, as desperate relatives brought photocopied head shots to hospitals and other places where they hoped to find loved ones alive. Within days, there was a "Wall of Prayers" outside Bellevue Hospital and a "Mural of Hope" outside the Lexington Avenue armory, each with hundreds of photos of World Trade Center workers in wedding tuxedos, or graduation gowns, or by the swimming pool.

November 22, 2000 | HENRY WEINSTEIN and DAVID SAVAGE, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Within hours of the judicial ruling upholding the validity of manual recounts, Republicans launched a full-scale attack on Florida's Supreme Court. As a result, the already heated debate over who actually won the 2000 presidential election may now take on another deeply divisive coloration--a debate over judicial legitimacy. In their unanimous opinion, the court's seven justices, six of whom are Democrats, had seemed to go out of their way to protect themselves against precisely that issue.

This year's national title race is officially in the hands of the computer nerds, a coup d'etat for every Poindexter who ever sought revenge on a jock. Have you checked out the bowl championship series standings, college football's mind-numbing equivalent of the electoral college? Oklahoma is No. 1 this week, followed by Florida State at No. 2 and Miami No. 3. If form holds, there's a good chance Oklahoma and Florida State will meet in the Jan.

C'mon, Margo. Sexism is sexism no matter who portrays it, as you so cleverly do with the consult of Duke, Doug and other sensitive, now-generation males. It's the half-smirking attitude of women such as yourself that perpetuates the picture of the bumbling father who can't change his baby's diaper, the adorably incompetent college lad who can't figure out which wash-day product to use and, of course, the male who is always rescued at the last minute from household disasters by the "all-knowing woman" created by the Madison Avenue gang.

In view of the failing attendance figures around major league ballparks this summer, coupled with the hue and cry that the game is dying, shouldn't the All-Star game at Arlington, Tex., have been moved to another Arlington--the site of our national cemetery? I'm sure many fans feel that's where the game belongs. JOHN R. GRUSH Mission Viejo Looking at the current state of major league baseball, one has to notice a ridiculous paradox: Pete Rose is not allowed to be involved with baseball while Bud Selig is. The players, greedy as they are, still would not have gone on strike last season if Selig had agreed not to unilaterally implement the salary cap in 1995.

Since Hermila Sanchez and her husband, Miguel, painted their beige South Gate home a light turquoise with white trim, they have noticed some passing neighbors giving the small stucco house disapproving looks. "I say if they don't like it they can come help us paint it another color," Hermila Sanchez said good-naturedly from her front porch. Her neighbors may not have a say in the color, but the city of South Gate soon may.

Lighten up, Thousand Oaks! The Promenade is a great place to visit and fits within the community's needs. The buildings, artwork and landscape are out of this world. One would think the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission would have better things to do with its time than pick on something new and innovative ("Hue and Cry on Club Disney Paint Pattern," March 21). Besides, the City of Thousand Oaks versus Disney? Take one guess who will win. JAN R. GILMORE, Moorpark